Category: Breakfast

What better way to celebrate Mother’s day with this delicious french toast for breakfast or brunch? Mother’s love is priceless and forever; nobody on this planet can replace her. Reminiscing one of the many sweet memories I had with my ma; I would give her a yellow rose on Mother’s day which she cherished and say ‘I love you mummy;’ she responded succinctly with a gentle smile saying ‘I love you all the time’; the dried rose was always there in the vase and never thrown away.

French Toast with Lemon or Wentelteefjes is the Dutch style of making french toast. It’s simple and easy; also makes a tasty breakfast in a jiffy. Originally, french toast was made with a day-old bread however, can make it with fresh bread too. Kids love to make french toast; a recipe which they learn from their mothers or grandmothers.

For this recipe, I have used a day-old bread and kept the crusts of the bread since my son loves it; however, can remove crusts if desired. Have used spelt-flour bread for a healthy version; it is very tasty with white bread. Instead of brown or vanilla sugar, icing sugar can be used for dusting. The key area to be focussed is that the bread slices should be completely soaked in the egg-milk mixture.

Delicious and easy dutch style french toast with the touch of lemon makes a perfect break-fast or brunch on Mother’s day.

Bread Upma is delicious and quick to make breakfast or snack prepared with simple ingredients available in the kitchen. A day or two old bread or fresh bread can be used. It is also a quick option for kid’s lunch box sans chillies.

This upma is something I prepare very often at home and you can use any type of bread. It tastes good with toasted bread too. For a healthier version, take multigrain bread and add in your favourite choice of vegetables, eggs too can be added.

Using kitchen shears, snip the bread into cubes or can cut them with a knife. If feeling lazy, just hand-pull them into bite sized pieces. For crunchiness, I have used urad dal wash and peanuts; even pine nuts, almonds or cashew-nuts can be used instead of peanuts. The bread is then tossed with the spice powders. The key to make a good bread upma is to keep them crisp in texture. Enjoy it with chutney or even plain with hot tea or coffee.

Spiced bread with crunchiness of peanuts, urad dal wash, enhanced with the aromatic and unique flavour of goda masala makes an excellent snack or breakfast in a jiffy.

Snip the bread with a help of kitchen shears or can cut them into cubes. Reserve.

Into a pre-heated oil, add mustard; once it splutters, add cumin seeds; when it crackles and turns fragrant, add urad dal wash, wait for two seconds to change to light brown in colour, then add the peanuts. Stir.

Pastas are loved by people across the globe. Found in various shapes and sizes, these beauties are so versatile that it can be cooked in many different ways. Makes a great weekend dinner or can be carried in lunch boxes too.

Spaghetti with fresh ricotta and basil is simple, quick, healthy and delicious; even a finicky eater would enjoy. If ricotta cheese is unavailable, can use paneer/cottage cheese instead; I have made this dish with paneer and it tastes great.

Here are some key areas to look out when following this recipe. Use good quality pasta. Fill lots of water in a large thick bottom stainless steel pot so that the pasta can move freely; don’t be stingy on that! When the water reaches boiling point, add salt generously; wait for a minute and then add the pasta. Once the pasta is fully submerged, gently stir with a wooden spoon, occasionally. Cook pasta till al dente; never over-cook. Drain it in a colander. Sometimes, I directly put the pasta into the sauce. Save little pasta water to make the sauce more flavourful. The sauce should only coat the pasta.

An incredibly easy, simple, flavourful and delicious spaghetti tossed with ricotta cheese, in tomato sauce, with the goodness of fresh basil and topped with parmesan to satisfy hunger pangs anytime.

Pesaha in malayalam language means ‘Passover’. Pesaha Appam sometimes also called as Indari Appam is an unleavened bread served with Pesaha Paal on the night of Maundy Thursday. It is prepared only on Passover (once in a year) with utmost care, reverence, and considered very sacred; an intensive labour of love. On this day, we celebrate the last supper of our Lord Jesus Christ with his disciples and this tradition of Passover meal is followed by many Christians across Kerala.

The tradition of pesaha appam and pesaha paal re-kindle beautiful childhood memories. My mum would begin to make the appam, starting with a prayer; taking great care of each and every ingredients and also the utensils which go into preparing it. Since it is an unleavened bread, the batter was not allowed to be fermented. Mum also notes that cardamom is not added to the pesaha paal coz it should not taste like payasam. As always, I would help her in peeling shallots, garlic and grating coconut (I was not allowed to eat the coconut while grating). After attending the church service, my dad, being the head of the family would lead the prayer, cut the appam, dip it in the paalu (milk) and serve it to other family members starting with the oldest to the youngest. Nothing was wasted; the left-overs were eaten on Good Friday morning.

Pesaha Appam and Pesaha Paal, a tradition of unleavened bread and drink celebrating the last supper of our Lord Jesus Christ with his disciples.

Grease a stainless steel plate with oil; pour the batter and spread it evenly. Now, make a small cross with coconut palm leaves blessed by the priest on Palm Sunday and place it on the centre.

Steam it in an Idli or Idiyappam steamer for 20-25 mins or till a skewer/toothpick inserted comes out clean on medium heat. The remaining appam can be prepared without the cross. Serve it with Pesaha Paalu.

For Pesaha Paal

Ingredients

1 cup thick coconut milk (first extract)

2 cup thin coconut milk (second extract)

3/4 cup jaggery (or as desired)

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/4 tsp dry ginger powder

2 tbsp rice flour (dissolved in little hot water)*

Method

Take a saucepan. Place the broken jaggery pieces along with water and melt it completely, strain and discard off any impurities. Cool slightly and bring it back to the stove-top.

Add the thin coconut milk (2nd extract) and allow it to come to a gentle boil, stirring continuously on low heat.

Now, add the rice flour paste* and thick coconut milk (1st extract). Continue to stir for 2 minutes or until it gets thickened.

Finally, add the spice powders and mix well. Can also place a small cross with coconut palm leaves in the centre. Switch off heat.

My observations/notes :

appam :

– while dry roasting urad dal, take care not to burn the dal

– the batter is slightly lumpy and not smooth

– the consistency of the batter should be slightly lesser than the idli batter

– can also bake it at 200º C/400º F in the oven

paal:

– the spice powders and the sweetness can be increased as per preference

– we do not get coconut palm leaves here hence replaced with bay laurel.

Kozhukkatta is a very traditional cuisine of Kerala and is made on the eve of Palm Sunday or on Palm Sunday in many christian homes. They are steamed round dumplings made from rice flour with sweet fillings of grated coconut, jaggery and spices.

My mum prepares this classic dish only on Palm Sunday; she makes it using raw rice washed and soaked, drained and pounded, sieved into a fine powder using an iron mortar and pestle (we do have a good mixie grinder though!); I was always co-opted to help her. All the intensive labour was soon left behind when we would come together joyfully to devour it for breakfast. The taste of these humble soft melt-in-the-mouth dumplings was simply unique and divine! Today, am sharing my mum’s recipe which I grew up eating and the tradition I too follow with the exception of store-bought rice flour.

Here, roasted rice flour is formed into a dough by adding hot water, gently kneaded and shaped into small round balls. The sweet filling mixture is prepared by melting jaggery, strained to remove any impurities. Further, grated coconut and crushed cardamom is added. The mixture is stirred till all moisture is dried up. A tablespoon of this mixture is added to the rice balls and steamed till done. The key areas to look out are : knead flour when still warm and the water added to the rice flour should be boiling hot.

Delicious soft, melt-in-the-mouth kozhukkatta with sweet fillings of grated coconut, jaggery and cardamom enjoyed with family on a beautiful Palm Sunday morning or for any special occasion.

Take a saucepan. Add little water and jaggery; allow it to melt. Once completely melted, strain the jaggery syrup and bring it back to the stove-top. Now, add coconut and stir to combine untill the mixture is thickened and moisture all dried up. Finally, add cardamom and mix well. Switch off heat and allow it to cool. Reserve.

For the rice flour dough

Heat water on a stove-top. Into this, add ghee or oil, salt and bring it to boil. Switch off heat. Slowly and gradually, add water to the rice flour; stirring continuously with a spoon until it comes together. While still warm, knead to make a soft pliable smooth consistency dough.

Shaping Kozhukkatta

Divide into 6 large lemon sized balls. Grease your palm with oil. Place one ball on your left hand and press it gently to flatten. Using the thumb of your right hand and fingers, fold inwards to form a cup-shaped depression in the centre, rotating very slowly. Put a tablespoon (more or less) of the sweet filling mixture in the centre; gather all edges to seal tightly and smoothed into a round ball. Repeat process with the remaining dough balls.

Steaming Kozhukkatta

Take an Idli or Idiyappam steamer. Grease the steamer with a teaspoon of oil nicely. Place the kozhukkattas in the steamer and steam it for 10-12 mins on medium heat until it gets a translucent appearance; remove immediately and serve warm.